Author: Claire Larson
This year both Residence Life and Housing Services (ResLife) and the Office of Student Life (OSL) plan to bring changes and new options to students on-campus. New staff members in each department have brought fresh perspectives and drafted plans to revamp student life.
Recently appointed Assistant Dean for Residence Life and Housing Services Timothy Chang has already helped restructure ResLife.
Residence Advisors (RA) are now held to greater expectations, making them the highest paid employees on-campus and restricting them from holding additional jobs, because their requirements when on-duty have changed.
“RAs are required to be in their building after 7 p.m. now when on-duty – not just be on campus,” second-year Wylie RA Allison Irwin (senior) said.
Policies in ResLife include a new $25 fee for lock-outs after the first two, which are still free.
“This encourages students to be more responsible,” Chang said, “and the money will go to a fund in Financial Aid to be used as scholarship and grant money.” Coming soon, students will also have the option to paint their rooms for a small fee, using pre-approved colors and supplies provided by Facilities.
Chang and his department expect to bring more events to the residence halls, which will encourage students to get out of their rooms and participate in activities.
“We revamped the structure of programming [in the dorms] to be more user-friendly. We’re encouraging smaller, more frequent programs so the residents have opportunities to do more things,” Newcomb Hall Coordinator Meilani Bowman-Kamaha’o (senior) said.Prospective programs include residence hall movie viewings, poker tournaments, or band nights.
“A lot of musicians live in Newcomb, and we want to facilitate activities that residents are already interested in,” Bowman-Kamaha’o said.
Chang also has plans to bring new services and amenities into the halls that will make dorm life more convenient for students, but these ideas have not yet been approved.
In the future, ResLife looks to introduce a new off-campus, themed housing option. Chang has ideas for nontraditional, contemporary themes like sustainable-living, cooking, or even a performance art house.
A similar optimism for engaging students on-campus is found in the OSL this year, where staff changes have brought new ideas to the department. The OSL, which is in charge of student services and activities programming, will aim to be more responsive to what students want and clear up problems it has had in the past with over-scheduling and out-of-sync calendars.
This year, OSL has introduced a new protocol for planning events that are designed to help students take the most advantage of the resources available to them on-campus. Now, students must register their events with the OSL office first, and from there the OSL will provide information on any planning restrictions and what resources and funding are available.
“This process will make it more equally known about what options are available on-campus rather than give some groups an unfair advantage because they know more about what they could do,” Director of Student Life Tamara Rice said.
The OSL is also receiving input about launching late night activities other than dances.
“Ever since it was decided that incoming students are required to live on-campus for three years, the newly inaugurated [P]resident [Veitch] has been voicing the need for a greater number of events on-campus that students can participate in. If we want the students to stay on-campus, then we need to create an atmosphere in which they feel immersed, and there needs to be plenty to do,” OSL Program Assistant Dan Perez (sophomore) said.
Ideas that Rice and the OSL have floated include keeping the Cooler open later on weeknights to host events like trivia night, poetry jams, or small musical performances such as a jazz ensemble or open mic night. Rice also hopes to do more on-campus movie screenings and already this year Oxy has sponsored three screen-on-the-green shows.
Also in the works is the highly-anticipated opening of the Green Bean Lounge, projected for Homecoming weekend.
Students can expect new ways to engage with the community outside of Oxy as well. “An example would be an Oxy taste-off challenge we hope to implement routinely . . . that will expose students to the variety of different foods offered off-campus and will also support local businesses,” OSL Programming Assistant Leandra Lehmann (junior) said.
Sept. 23 will mark the first: a donut taste-off, but other challenges may include yogurt or pizza.
Rice notes her excitement regarding the changes; she is expecting there to be plenty of options for students.
“The choices will promote student activity, and we hope to have more than one thing happening – and have alternatives if one plan doesn’t work,” Rice said.
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